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Hello to all, I've just joined. My creds - had a puzzle in the Sunday NYT. I actually prefer designing acrostics, and I published them for many years in a scientific journal. I joined this site to see what resources are available here for acrostic-makers, - but there aren't any! I can't find anything in this entire forum when I search on "Acrostic" . I'd like recommendations for software, buyers and prices, sympathy, etc. Do y'all have something against acrostics?

Title: Re: Acrostics
Post by: ktd on June 06, 2009, 08:09:08 PM

My guess is there's a more limited market for acrostics. I've only ever seen them in the NY Times every other Sunday, and they're always written by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon.

But...there's a scientific journal that publishes acrostics? Which one?

I love acrostics, especially cryptic ones. I've created a couple of them myself that are used as the basis for geocaches. If you like you can find them here (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f534cb0d-efa6-4fb5-a008-ba6758a3f460) and here (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cbab64a5-c385-441c-ab13-e6f8a711d670). I had no special software. I just filled in the grid in a spreadsheet, including numbering by hand, and printed that out, then cut it up into little squares and did multiple anagramming on a felt board that my wife has for jigsaw puzzle storage, then typed the results into a word processor. Finally I did a print screen on each to make the jpgs for uploading to the geocaching.com site.

That's a great idea for geocaching! I tried geocaching once with some expert friends who were visiting, and I enjoyed it. I'm sure your approach will provide an additional challenge.I will have to try your puzzle - I also make puns and anagrams puzzles. I did receive a recommendation for acrostic software, from E Rice on this list; it is EnigmaCross http://www.crossdown.com/ It's not perfect, but it is way easier then how you do yours, or I did mine. Plus, you can print the final version as a .pdf so it can be emailed to people.